I’m running the London Marathon 2025 to raise awareness!
I’ve had Asthma my whole life and although it used to stop me from taking part in sports like cross country, I never really took it too seriously or struggled very badly. Just before COVID-19 I suffered from quite a serious Asthma attack which meant during lockdown I was classed as ‘high-risk’ and had to isolate with my Grandparents.
During this time, I decided to try running. My first run didn’t last more than a kilometre and I got home struggling to breathe and cried because it was probably the first time I realised how much of an impact it had on my life. It’s safe to say that due to feeling so deflated I didn’t carry on running.
I started working for a new company in 2023 and came across an individual who dedicated a lot of his time to running ultra marathons. I genuinely couldn’t imagine anything worse than putting yourself through something, even he didn’t consider enjoyable. However, it was stated in a conversation later down the line that running was in fact a mental battle and the mental reward outweighed the endurance of the run itself. So, that night I went to gym, jumped on a treadmill an attempted my first 5k. It took me 47 minutes, I hated every minute of it, my breathing was in no way controlled, and I was so happy it was over but, realising afterwards that I just ran 5k and I didn’t collapse was a huge achievement.
My running journey from then on hasn’t been my most favourite
experience to look back on, it has consisted of A LOT of tears, and a lot of
anger. I think it’s so frustrating because Asthma is completely different for everyone.
My partner needed a blue inhaler once when he was younger, but I depend on mine
throughout my day-to-day life. I have never understood how some people can just
run 5k and not struggle afterwards or have to think about every breath they take
or can jump up and smash it out in less than 20 minutes. It can be so
debilitating to try and explain to someone why you can’t just breathe normally and because it’s not always visible it’s not always taken seriously.
So instead of being angry about it, I thought I’d challenge myself to a Marathon. This is going to be one of the worst decisions I have ever made, but the mental game is stronger than the physical one and I’m determined to prove it’s not as impossible as I once thought it might be.
Every minute someone in the UK is diagnosed with a lung condition. Asthma can be deadly and in 2019 it was estimated that globally, 461,000 people died from Asthma, that’s more than 1000 per day.
Just £22 allows one of Asthma + Lung UK's nurses to answer a call on the Helpline, offering potentially lifesaving advice. I'd be very grateful for any donations you could make!
